You are at the newest post.Click here
to check if anything new just came in.

October162017

“My friend told me a story he hadn’t told anyone for years. When he used to tell it years ago people would laugh and say, ‘Who’d believe that? How can that be true? That’s daft.’ So he didn’t tell it again for ages. But for some reason, last night, he knew it would be just the kind of story I would love.
When he was a kid, he said, they didn’t use the word autism, they just said ‘shy’, or ‘isn’t very good at being around strangers or lots of people.’ But that’s what he was, and is, and he doesn’t mind telling anyone. It’s just a matter of fact with him, and sometimes it makes him sound a little and act different, but that’s okay.
Anyway, when he was a kid it was the middle of the 1980s and they were still saying ‘shy’ or ‘withdrawn’ rather than ‘autistic’. He went to London with his mother to see a special screening of a new film he really loved. He must have won a competition or something, I think. Some of the details he can’t quite remember, but he thinks it must have been London they went to, and the film…! Well, the film is one of my all-time favourites, too. It’s a dark, mysterious fantasy movie. Every single frame is crammed with puppets and goblins. There are silly songs and a goblin king who wears clingy silver tights and who kidnaps a baby and this is what kickstarts the whole adventure.
It was ‘Labyrinth’, of course, and the star was David Bowie, and he was there to meet the children who had come to see this special screening.
‘I met David Bowie once,’ was the thing that my friend said, that caught my attention.
‘You did? When was this?’ I was amazed, and surprised, too, at the casual way he brought this revelation out. Almost anyone else I know would have told the tale a million times already.
He seemed surprised I would want to know, and he told me the whole thing, all out of order, and I eked the details out of him.
He told the story as if it was he’d been on an adventure back then, and he wasn’t quite allowed to tell the story. Like there was a pact, or a magic spell surrounding it. As if something profound and peculiar would occur if he broke the confidence.
It was thirty years ago and all us kids who’d loved Labyrinth then, and who still love it now, are all middle-aged. Saddest of all, the Goblin King is dead. Does the magic still exist?
I asked him what happened on his adventure.
‘I was withdrawn, more withdrawn than the other kids. We all got a signed poster. Because I was so shy, they put me in a separate room, to one side, and so I got to meet him alone. He’d heard I was shy and it was his idea. He spent thirty minutes with me.
‘He gave me this mask. This one. Look.
‘He said: ‘This is an invisible mask, you see?
‘He took it off his own face and looked around like he was scared and uncomfortable all of a sudden. He passed me his invisible mask. ‘Put it on,’ he told me. ‘It’s magic.’
‘And so I did.
‘Then he told me, ‘I always feel afraid, just the same as you. But I wear this mask every single day. And it doesn’t take the fear away, but it makes it feel a bit better. I feel brave enough then to face the whole world and all the people. And now you will, too.
‘I sat there in his magic mask, looking through the eyes at David Bowie and it was true, I did feel better.
‘Then I watched as he made another magic mask. He spun it out of thin air, out of nothing at all. He finished it and smiled and then he put it on. And he looked so relieved and pleased. He smiled at me.
‘'Now we’ve both got invisible masks. We can both see through them perfectly well and no one would know we’re even wearing them,’ he said.
‘So, I felt incredibly comfortable. It was the first time I felt safe in my whole life.
‘It was magic. He was a wizard. He was a goblin king, grinning at me.
‘I still keep the mask, of course. This is it, now. Look.’
I kept asking my friend questions, amazed by his story. I loved it and wanted all the details. How many other kids? Did they have puppets from the film there, as well? What was David Bowie wearing? I imagined him in his lilac suit from Live Aid. Or maybe he was dressed as the Goblin King in lacy ruffles and cobwebs and glitter.
What was the last thing he said to you, when you had to say goodbye?
‘David Bowie said, ‘I’m always afraid as well. But this is how you can feel brave in the world.’ And then it was over. I’ve never forgotten it. And years later I cried when I heard he had passed.’
My friend was surprised I was delighted by this tale.
‘The normal reaction is: that’s just a stupid story. Fancy believing in an invisible mask.’
But I do. I really believe in it.
And it’s the best story I’ve heard all year.”

May302017

If you can, please donate to these people in need so they won’t become homeless and die. (If you don’t have money, please signal boost their posts.)

Kiri (@kiriamaya) http://kiriamaya.tumblr.com/post/131987127069/hi-im-still-mentally-ill-and-disabled-and-i is a mentally ill disabled lesbian trans woman in the US. She cannot work. She has applied for disability, it takes forever as usual. If you can, please help her pay her rent (90$/week), food, utilities, medicine, hormones etc. Her Paypal address is in the post I linked. If you can support her monthly that would be great. Also, if you are a Christian trans woman she would probably like to follow your tumblr :) .

Ragna (@penaltywaltz, a.k.a. afteriwake on Archive of Our Own) http://penaltywaltz.tumblr.com/post/137246165738/faq-post is a physically disabled mentally ill queer cis woman living in the US. Currently she cannot work because of back injuries. She had back surgery for it, now she is still in pain and can still not work and does not receive disability payments because the 1 year temporary disability has run out. She lives with her mother, who has cancer, got surgery for it, chemo and radiation therapy. The mother requires relatively expensive easy-to-digest food and co-payments for doctor’s visits. Her son is in foster care. Please help her pay her rent, utilities, food, gas (important for getting herself and her mother to the various doctors frequently and for visiting her son) and medication. She will write fan fiction for you in return. She’s really good. Her preferred fandom is Sherlock, especially Molly, but she also does others, e.g. Star Trek (http://penaltywaltz.tumblr.com/post/137243453583/fanfic-commisions-i-am-offering-commission-for - or get art commissions from a friend http://penaltywaltz.tumblr.com/post/150823122688/help-out-reblog) This is Ragna’s Paypal link https://www.paypal.me/penaltywaltz . If you can support her monthly that would be great. This is her mom’s Amazon wishlist https://www.amazon.com/registry/wishlist/2BWK4GNFHN4DD , the most important things are cat food and cat litter, easily digestible / drinkable food, cleaning supplies (because the chemo impairs the immune system), bed sheets, bed clothes … but also DVDs to keep her spirit up while fighting cancer. Safeway e-mail cards (buyable on Amazon, but cannot be added to wishlists) or even better Walmart gift cards (if you are not in the US your credit card may be rejected first but if you contact Walmart support they will fix it) are also very useful, send them to afteriwake23(at)gmail.c o m .

Frances (@thetidewithdrew formerly known as @no-never-no formerly known as @deadtransdyke) http://thetidewithdrew.tumblr.com/current is a physically and mentally ill queer trans woman in the US. She cannot work much and even that is bad for her health. She got back into an apartment in March 2017 after being homeless. Please help her pay for rent, food, hormones, medicine and sex reassignment surgery. If you can support her monthly that would be great. Patreon, Paypal and YouCaring are linked at the bottom of the post.

Taís (@gadreelsam) http://gadreelsam.tumblr.com lives in Brazil, can’t find a job because of the poor economy and regularly needs to buy medicine for her mom, who suffers from emphysema. The donation request is at or near the top of her blog, it includes her Paypal address. For sending money to Brazil one always needs to select “Goods and Services” (”Family and Friends” is not available).

Natalie is a queer American mentally ill trans woman. She is receiving SSDI, but her wife, who is also unable to work, does not, and the money is not enough for both of them. If you can, please help her pay for food, bills and co-pay for psychiatrist visits and medication. Her Paypal address is witchycats at gmail.c o m. If you can support the two of them monthly that would be great.

Nikole Ancona (@maverick-ornithography) is a poor Latina trans woman living in the US who has just started her transition. She posts lies about birds, go follow her tumblog, it’s hilarious. Become her patron at Patreon https://www.patreon.com/TABS?ty=c to support her monthly, or ask her for her Paypal address.

@anarmyofawesome http://greenskyoverme.tumblr.com/post/158859512457/anarmyofawesome-hi-im-a-crazy-disabled-abuse is a British queer predominantly cis predominantly female multiple system (a person with Dissociative Identity Disorder) suffering from Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and various other physical and mental disabilities/chronical illnesses that make it impossible to get employment and on some days to walk (they have a wheelchair) or get out of bed. They urgently need money to move to be close to friends who will support them. Their Paypal address is in the linked post.

b. binaohan https://twitter.com/mxbees is a nonbinary trans woman of colour, lives in Canada and writes about the intersections of oppression. Buy their writing at http://by.mxb.ca/ , e.g. “Decolonizing trans/gender 101″, “Deconstructing Whipping Girl” or “The Etiquette Guide for Surviving the Workplace for Autistic People of Colour“. Support them monthly via Paypal by going to their website https://b.binaohan.org/ and clicking on “monthly donation”.

Kids. Teenagers. As someone staring 40 in the face lemme tell you a thing.

You are going to be horrified and embarrassed at some point by the shit you are doing now.

And you are going to wish with all your might you’d done more of it.

You’re gonna wish you had more selfies, more photos, more videos being dumb with your friends. You’re going to wish you’d had your hair even higher or your shoes even sparklier.

Go. Document the shit out of your ridiculous life. Fuck trends but if you wanna be trendy, go all in. Fuck in-groups and subcultures but if one sings to you, do it all. Be exactly as cool or punk rock or goth or fandom or country or hardcore or hip hop or whatever, and don’t let anyone tell you differently.

Just don’t hurt people. That’s the only thing you’ll ever genuinely live to regret.